Safeguarding staff training

Safeguarding staff training – Health and safety officials, as well as emergency crews, are trained to assist others when and where they can. But even though it is emphasized during their training that they should put their own safety first, it still happens that caregivers abandon protocol and put their lives at risk to rescue a victim. The risk that is attached to this should certainly be assessed too.

High regard is always earned when someone considers the welfare of other people before their own. If it works out successfully, this person will be considered a 'hero'. But when it fails, the consequences can be disastrous.

Whatever it is that health and safety officials are expected to do, they always have to consider their own safety and well-being first before they act. Their top-priority should be to determine the likelihood of getting involved of injured themselves, before assessing the possible danger to others or assisting a person has been injured. If this approach is not applied correctly and continuously incidents could spiral out of control and companies could even run out of health and safety officials at a rapid speed.

How dire the consequences can be is perhaps best illustrated by an incident that occurred during the 1977 South African Grand Prix.

During the 21^st lap on the track at Kyalami, the Shadow of Renzo Zorzi suffered engine failure, which forced him to retire from the race. Zorzi moved his car off the track, but moments after the car came to a halt on a blind brow, the engine caught fire. Two fire marshals reacted to the emergency of the burning car and took out their fire extinguishers. They ran across the track to put out the blaze while the race continued. But the very moment they stepped onto the track, the Formula One cars of Hans-Joachim Stuck and Tom Pryce came flying around the corner. Stuck's leading car swerved, narrowly missing the first marshal, but Pryce, who was unsighted behind the German, had no time to react. He hit the second marshal, who was killed instantly. The fire extinguisher this marshal had been holding smashed into Pryce's head, taking the life of Pryce too.

Back in the days, races like this mainly made use of volunteers and poorly trained officials, while technology did not come close to what is used today. Nevertheless, both marshals made a calculated, but wrong decision that went horribly wrong. What made matters worse is that the identity of the marshal involved was only determined after a roll-call at the end of the race. The victim was so severely injured that identification was not possible.

Having to inform family of a victim about the loss of their loved one is a difficult task all by itself. But not being able to do so immediately after an incident has occurred, makes matters worse.

While it is the responsibility of health and safety officials to consider the health and safety of other people on the site or premises, managers of health and safety officials have the responsibility to ensure that their staff is taken care off. They cannot assign risk assessment tasks to their staff when they fail to assess the risk for their subordinates, regardless of how trained or experienced they are.